Chapter 8: Farewell, Village of Golden Fields

Tobias stared at the hill. It wasn’t covered by snow anymore, yet the winds were still chilly; not as freezing as it was a few days ago, but still substantially cold. The sky was a dark, grayish blue, and the clouds weren’t anywhere to be found. The earth was softly brown, to the point where it resembled his family’s shared eye color, and there were little green blossoms of weed sprouting about.

“So... Magnus.” He idly began to speak. “Why are we staring at this hill?”

Indeed. Unlike any other day, from the past half year until yesterday, he wasn’t ordered to run up and down the hill who-knows-how-many-times, and instead, they were only staring at it. Tobias idly played with the sleeves of his dark-blue coat; the gift for his birthday from his family.

“You are thinking of leaving later, are you not?” Marcus posed a question back, and his question made Tobias’ eyes widen from surprise. “Oh, do not look at me like that. I have been your mentor for the past half year. Of course I would know what you would be thinking.”

“I see.” Tobias nodded. “You’re not wrong. Especially not after you said to my face that you don’t have anything more to teach me.”

“I know that I like to answer your questions with theoretical questions of my own, so I will answer your first question.” Magnus stated. The directness of his statement made Tobias look at him, with a deadpan expression. “I told you to stare at this hill, so that you would remember everything you sweat for, everything you bled for, to reach this point.”

“Huh.” Tobias let out a small hum. He looked at the hill, and remembered the first day. The part where he was forced to wear his winter clothing in the middle of summer, run up the hill, and literally fall down because of his body overheating. And then he had to be patched up by his older sister after that.

Well, it would be almost impossible for him to overheat now. Optimizations have been made, allowing him to shrug off temperatures both hot and cold, unless they were drastic and extreme. Human bodies had limitations, after all.

And by extension, remembering the first day only made him remember everything else which happened. Training, training, training. And more training, because mentioning it only three times seemed to undermine it.

It was amazing to think that more than half a year ago, he had the sheer audacity to go off and try his hand at becoming a mercenary. He obviously failed, and had to get bailed out by his friend, Marcus.

On hindsight, now that he experienced it himself, he understood why Marcus was such a force to be reckoned with and why he practically survived in the battle field by himself. But even with all of those training, he wasn’t prepared against Death.

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Which is why... in the grander schemes of things, even if he was strong, he knew that he needed to become even stronger somehow. Death was in another league of their own, and he knows that he wouldn’t be respected by them anytime soon.

“You might be thinking to yourself about how you will grow stronger from this point on, are you not?”

Tobias turned to look at Magnus. The old man really wasn’t joking when he said he knew how Tobias would be thinking.

“That is what I’m thinking about.”

Magnus hummed, as if he was thinking to himself. “For reference, I did tell you that I used to be part of a Dungeon Clearing squad, correct?” Tobias nodded after a short while. “But that was just a fancy term for what I really was. I used to be an adventurer, before I got drafted off to war.”

“Oh. I kinda figured that out already.” Tobias gave a shrug.

“Not surprised. I trained you to think, and I gave you enough clues.” Magnus nodded. “Anyways, there is your next step. You learned how to fight against men. Now, being an adventurer will teach you how to fight against monsters and beasts.”

“I see.” Tobias gave a small grin. “I like it.”

“Good, then. Never forget why you are fighting, you hear me?” His mentor spoke, and he gave a small nod.

He fixed his gaze on the hill once more, and the sun rose, halfway blocked by the hill. It was a beautiful sight, if nothing else. So he burned the image into his memory.

And just like that, the sun’s light touched the hill after a cold, dreary winter.

***

Saying good bye to his family was probably the hardest thing that Tobias had done in his life so far. It was nerve wracking to the point where he idly thought if it would be better for him to simply slip off at some point when it was midnight, but in the end, he thought that it was too shameless of him to do so.

His mother did not break down crying, surprisingly. Instead, she bore a resigned, resolute expression, as she wished him the best of luck and gave him her blessings. Of course, she still gave him a really tight hug, just as he expected. It would be honorable to mention how she tried her best to keep away her tears. Such valiant effort...

His elder sister was calm and gentle, as usual. While her words were composed of wishing him luck and staying safe, her eyes shone a certain sadness that contrasted which the wishes she sent to him. In the end, she gave him a hand knitted scarf of dark blue, matching his coat. And she also gave him a head pat. Of course she did.

His younger brother demanded to join with him. But everyone refused, and only told him that it was going to be dangerous. What calmed him down was a stern warning from their mother, and a few reassurances from their elder sister. But he did give a promise that he would grow stronger someday, and search for Marcus as well. How touching...

His younger sister simply wished him luck, and bade him goodbye. It seemed that she still remembered their conversation a week or two ago, and she was still annoyed at the fact that she couldn’t get to leave like he could. So he only gave her a head pat, earning him a pout.

And for once, his father was serious. There wasn’t a single snide remark, or a sarcastic joke thrown about while he was giving Tobias some pretty solid life advice. So this rare side must have been the reason why their mother liked their father, after all.

And just like that, he managed to say good bye to his family. Each and every single one of them, each with their own way of wishing him well and telling him to stay safe... It was truly heartwarming.

But either way, it was time for him to go. His leather bag, filled with everything he needed was set. The nameless, yet reliable steel sword given to him by Magnus was sheathed by his waist, ready to be drawn whenever he needed it to.

And just like that, he took one last look behind him, and saw the village he came to live in for the entirety of his life, gradually becoming smaller as he walked away.

Burn the image into his memory, or so the voice of his mentor echoed within his mind.

Remember the reason why he learned to fight, and why he was leaving his home behind.

And maybe the weight in his heart would lessen, even if slightly so.